What we have to sacrifice on the way to beauty is best known to the planet’s ecology: the textile industry ranks second in the number of harmful emissions and environmental pollution, second only to the oil industry. Today smart consumption and Sustainable Fashion is not just a trend, it is a necessary measure.
What is sustainable fashion?
With the growth of eco-consciousness among young people and entire corporations, “green” trends, whose main goal is to take care of the environment, are increasingly appearing. However, even more often brands are using the popularity of eco-ideas to promote their products. That is why it is extremely important to know what lies behind the new slogans and loud statements.
The most popular current trends in fashion are Slow Fashion and Sustainable Fashion. The first trend appeals to abandon the rapid change of trends and consciously consume goods of all categories, while sustainable fashion implies a change in lifestyles, both for consumers and manufacturers.
The term first sounded in 1987 during the report of the UN Commission on the Environment. At the heart of the sustainable-worldview are ethical, ecological, economic components, designed for the long term.
What it means for brands: The footprint of textile production must be minimal for eco-systems and the production process must be transparent, safe for workers and customers.
What it means for consumers: Sustainable Fashion encourages you to think about whether the items you buy are really necessary (in excess); what company philosophies you support when you purchase their products; what materials and under what conditions the product was made.
Why sustainable fashion is important
About 98 tons of different raw materials (from fabrics to chemical dyes) and 93 billion cubic meters of water are used each year for textile production. About 2,700 liters of water are required for the complete production cycle of one cotton T-shirt.
According to estimates of the American company Levis, it takes 3,780 liters of water to make one pair of jeans (from cotton growing to washing), and it is still very economical. Other brands require at least 7,000 liters to produce jeans. And this despite the fact that the number of countries with a shortage of drinking water is increasing every year.
During the manufacture of clothing, 1.2 billion tons of CO2 were emitted into the atmosphere. According to the UN, if this process is not slowed down, instead of the 8 percent of greenhouse gases that the textile industry leaves behind today, by 2025 the industry will account for 25 percent of the carbon “budget.”
But the situation is critical not only with water and air: thousands of hectares of forests are destroyed in order to set up pastures and farms in their place. Not only to provide meat products, but also leather, to make clothes, shoes and accessories.
In addition, clothes of budget brands are of low quality, and even with careful use can not last for several seasons. Do not make the mistake that less raw materials were used in the production of low-grade clothing, even the opposite: the use of chemical dyes, large amounts of synthetics further poison the soil, water and air.
Environmental “mantra”: reduce, reuse, recycle
Basic principles of conscious fashion:
careful use of natural and human resources (reducing);
Reusing and upcycling;
recycling;
Sustainable fashion, as well as the Zero Waste concept, does not advocate asceticism, but only a rational approach to consumption, including calling for large companies and corporations to openly conduct production.
The consequences of manufacturing clothes in the world
This information is necessary so that each consumer knows what materials are used to make a T-shirt or dress, what components have been used, what working conditions have been created in the factory to support the company philosophy close to him.